The Living and Dining Room

His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.

-J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit

My house is not perfect, but I want to make it pleasant for all kinds of activities for all kinds of people. Other than the kitchen, there is only one large room on the main floor of the carriage house. It serves as a living room and a dining room. Since this is where visitors spend the most time, I want it to be as cozy and versatile as possible.

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As with the other rooms, I painted over the beige with a richer color and also scraped and repainted the trim. This room still had picture rails! Since hanging pictures from a rail is so easy, I’ve been filling up the room with artwork. I keep my record player in the corner for enjoying old tunes and store records and games in the cedar chest (which also serves as a coffee table) for when guests come over.

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The drop leaf table works well in this room because I can drop the leaves when I’m eating alone or extend them to have a few more people over. Both the table and the chairs were roadside rescues.

Updates Completed

• Baseboard heaters removed and capped
• Telephone and cable wires removed
• Walls scraped, patched, and painted
• Trim scraped, patched, and painted
• Closet painted inside
• Shelves installed in the shallow closet to create a pantry
• Light fixture updated (thanks to a friend!)
• Outlets replaced
• Door hardware stripped of paint and cleaned
• Door removed from foyer to living room
• Toe kick installed